Ron's realization
by MockingJay JAM
Summary: Non-magic AU. Ron did not realize how much he had until Harry showed up to show him the way. warning: mentions of abuse.


Sometimes it's hard to see what you have in life because no matter who you are and what you have there will always be something you don't have, and that is what people tend to focus on. Sometimes people never realize what they have until it's gone, I guess you could say I was lucky in that aspect in life because I had someone to point it out to me. So that's what I wanted to tell you about. Maybe hearing about this person will bring out some realizations in your life as it did with mine, maybe you'll forget you ever read this and move on in your life, but hopefully at the end of this you will walk away with a better understanding of the world.

There are a few things you have to understand before we continue on with the retelling of the events I previously mentioned, one: I am the second to youngest child of seven children and the youngest sibling is our only sister, my oldest brother has a really important job with a bank, my second to oldest brother has one of the coolest jobs in the world working with really dangerous animals on a reserve, and at the point in time this story takes place the brother right after them had just graduated and already had a job in the government, not to mention the twins who were highly inventive pranksters with plans to run their own business, two: we didn't have all that much money so almost all my stuff was hand-me-down, and three: I was a sophomore in high school with a few really good friends and one of the best friends in the world. So, I guess life was okay for me but, I was always complaining about not having enough money; however, this was the year my view on the world took a complete turn.

It started as a normal Monday morning, I got up, got dressed and ready for school, ate breakfast, caught the bus with the twins, went to homeroom, then went to English. It was in this class that everything starts, I walked in and sat down next to my best friend Hermione.

"Hey Mione" I said as I gave her a hug.

She looked up from the book she was reading "did you finish your homework last night?" she asked as she was a bit of a book worm and a stickler for finishing work.

"of course, I did, you would have had my head if I hadn't"

This seemed to please her as she continued to read her book until the teacher came in and started to speak.

"so, class, today we are starting our projects on the important lessons found in Greek mythology. This project will be done with a partner of my choosing and I want an essay and a PowerPoint presentation by Halloween, which, may I remind you, is only two weeks from now. You and your partner will pick a legend from Greek mythology and tell me which one you are doing, there will be no repeats so first come first serve. I've put the names of one half of the room in a hat and the other half will be choosing the name of their partner. This is a huge grade and you only have today to work in class so I suggest you work out a way to get it done." With that the teacher walked to my side of the room.

Of course, me and Hemione sat in the front of the room close to the middle so Hermione picked first and me second. I opened my slip to see the words "Harry Potter" written across and immediately turned to talk to Mione.

"who'd you get?" I asked her and she showed me her slip of paper, which read "Hanna Abbot" "lucky" I stated glumly "I got Potter. I'm probably going to have to do all the work"

You see Harry Potter was a very shy kid who always sat in the back of the room and only talked when called on by the teacher. Nobody knew anything about him except that he always wore the same five outfits to school and nobody had ever seen him smile. It was weird and everyone was just kind of creeped out by him.

"oh, come on Ron he can't be that bad. For all we know he may have a huge work ethic." Mione stated and he was about to say something else when she was interrupted by the teacher telling us to find our partner so she just said "good luck" instead.

I walked over to Harry's corner and sat down backwards in the desk in front of his in order to face him. He hadn't looked up yet and seemed to be scribbling on a piece of paper; however, when he saw my hand he looked up.

"so, you're my partner then" he stated quietly

"yeah, I guess I am" I said and then after a few seconds of awkward silence, during which he looked hopeful for some reason, I asked "so, do you have any ideas for this project?"

His face seemed to light up as he answered "yeah actually, I was hoping we could work on the legend surrounding Persephone and Demeter about why the seasons change. It would be really cool and I've read all about them"

I was surprised to say the least when he seemed to get so excited I think he even smiled a little when I told him that it sounded like a great idea and that I would go tell the teacher what we were doing. All we had to discuss now was where we were going to do the project.

"so how do you wanna do this?" I asked "we could split it up, we could work on it at my house or at your house…" I finished leaving room for more suggestions. I really didn't care how we did it as long as we got it done.

"how about your house" Harry said after a moment of thought. "I don't have a computer so we can't really work on it at my place" he finished somewhat embarrassedly.

"that'll work" I said without missing a beat "my parents won't mind, as we have people over all the time. I live near Honey dukes; do you know where that is" I didn't want to dwell on the fact that he didn't have a computer since the topic obviously made him uncomfortable

"um yeah, I work there actually. I could come over after work if you want I get off at four and you could just come and lead the way" he said.

So, at four o'clock I went to pick up Harry and we worked on the project at my house until right before dinner, and then he left and went home, and that was how the rest of the week went too. Me and Harry had become fast friends and by the time he went home on Thursday we were already done the project; however, since me and the rest of my family had already taken a fast liking to Harry I asked him to come back over the next day and even asked if he would like to spend the night.

That day Harry didn't have work so he just took the bus with me straight to the burrow. Harry seemed to love our house, we had a big yard with a garden, and a huge seven-bedroom house. It was always a bit messy and cramped, not to mention noisy, but Harry was always in aww of the whole thing.

We went inside and I decided today was the day I was going to teach Harry how to play chess, and that's exactly what we did, played chess and talked until dinner was ready. Harry even helped set the table for dinner, only increasing my mom's love for him, Harry was pretty much one of her children already.

Dinner was a normal affair, Harry didn't talk much, not that he usually did, he was always contempt to just listen, and my family got to know Harry a little better, actually even I learned something new.

After mom had called for dinner I brought harry into the dining room to eat, when he saw my mom bringing so many dishes to the table he decided to help her out and since he did I did, when we finally sat down to eat the only members of the family her weren't with us were my two oldest brothers Charlie and Bill, they would be home for dinner on Sunday though just like every week, but everyone was having fun and laughing, even Harry chuckled a few times, it was always nice when Harry smiled or laughed for he didn't do it enough. Harry's smile disappeared, however, when my mom asked him the next question.

"so Harry, what do your parents do?"

It may have seemed like an innocent question, but Harry never liked answering questions about himself or his life. He looked down and bit his lip for a moment in thought before he finally looked up and answered a question I had been slightly curious about myself.

"actually, they died in a car crash when I was one" he said somewhat sadly.

"oh, I'm so sorry dear. Who do you live with then?"

Harry seemed to be thinking again before he answered cautiously, he did that a lot "I live with my relatives" he said quite quietly.

Nobody commented on it again as it seemed to be a painful topic for him. He didn't eat much either, it seemed as though he was afraid that if he reached for the food it would disappear, that if he took another bite he would realize it was all a dream and he would wake up. Harry's behavior was strange to me, it may just be me considering I grew up with six siblings, but, it still seemed off. I would always see him scanning the room, scrutinizing the gestures and expressions of the occupants as if his life depended on it, he flinched often, and he could always tell when someone was looking at him, he would freeze if they looked too long.

There was only one more significant event that evening, Harry was reaching for something when his shirt rode up.

"Harry what's that, on your back?" I asked. It looked like a scar in the shape of an F, almost like it was burned into his skin.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." He replied solemnly.

"what happened?"

"it doesn't matter, it was a long time ago. Just leave it alone." After that he refused to speak on the topic.

In the next few weeks I started to get even more worried. Harry continued to come over after school during the week and we even convinced him to stay for dinner sometimes "lord knows you need it, you're practically skin and bones" mom would say, but it was true. I didn't know then what I knew now but I had not been prepared for what I found out about my friend. I thought that maybe he was just really poor, but the truth was far worse.

It was by early December that I finally decided I would conduct my own investigation. It had just snowed so I would be able to follow Harry home from a distance without him noticing by following his tracks. It went off without a hitch, well until I ran out of foot prints. They had just stopped right near the fire escape of an abandoned apartment building. It made no sense to me, but as a desperate attempt to finish my investigation I climbed the fire escape. I found the answers to all the questions I had ever had about Harry's strange behaviors that night on the fourth floor of that building.

In the dark and freezing room of the abandoned apartment, curled up in many heavy blankets, a single candle as the only source of light in the room, and a backpack near his feet slept Harry. I let out a shocked gasp causing him to spring out of bed. He looked at me in shock and embarrassment and I looked back in shock and sadness.

"Please Ron you can't tell anyone" he pleaded

"What do you mean I can't tell anyone? Harry you're living on the streets, you could die. Why didn't you tell? Me I could have helped you" I staid somewhat angrily.

"If you tell someone then they'll send me back!" he yelled on the verge of tears "please Ron, I can't go back"

"what could be worse than being homeless" I asked completely dumfounded

"You wouldn't understand"

"I can try"

"My relatives hated me"

"it couldn't have been that bad, you're their family"

"not to them, to them I was imposing on their perfect family and messing up their image. I was nothing but a parasite to them! I was nothing but a freak!"

I don't remember when Harry stood up but at the word freak he had ripped off his shirt, a wave of shock ran through my body and I seemed to forget how to breath, all over his chest were burn scars in the shape of words, I was able to make out a few of the words including worthless, waste, and fag, but then he crumbled to the ground in a ball of sobs and I saw in huge letters across his back the word FREAK.

"Did your relatives do this to you" I asked without thinking

He let out a sob "I ran away when I was nine" I didn't know what to do so I just comforted him the only way I knew how, I sat in front of him, pulled him into my lap, and wrapped my arms around him. He tensed up at first but after a while he started to calm down as he laid his head on my chest.

"promise me you won't tell anyone" Harry stated head still buried in my chest.

"Harry…"

"promise me" he said firmly, looking into my eyes.

"I promise"

I still don't know why I promised him but I had. Either way around Christmas that same year I broke my promise.

It was only a few days before Christmas and school had let out the day before for the holidays. It was snowing rather hard and the temperature was only lowering, it was the coldest I could ever remember it being in London and I was starting to worry. When it started to snow harder I decided it was time to confide in my mom.

"mom" I said as I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"yes honey" she said sitting down at the table with me, she seemed surprised at my worried tone, I usually loved snow.

"I'm worried about Harry" I blurted out before I could think about the consequences of breaking my promise.

"why are you worried for Harry?" she asked sounding very confused.

"mom" I started as my eyes shone with unshed tears "I should have told you a while ago but he made me promise not to tell and now he may be in trouble, he could die and I don't know what to do and…"

"whoa honey, slow down, why is Harry in trouble? What's going on?" she asked as she started to get worried.

"Harry's homeless and has been since he was nine"

After my mom worked out what I had said worry quickly set in on her face, she was about to get up and run for the phone when there was a knock on the door.

"now who in the world is out in this weather?" she said as I went to answer it.

Harry stood on the other side, he was shivering and practically blue, his hair and jacket were full of snow, and he looked about ready to collapse. I quickly pulled him into the house as he practically fell into my arms.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to just show up unannounced, it's just so cold, I didn't know where else I could go" he kept mumbling apologies and explanations.

"shhh, Harry you're freezing" I said as I held him trying to warm him up.

The rest of the night had passed in practically the same position, we couldn't have gotten Harry to a doctor because of the snow, but he was finally okay in the morning. After he spent that Christmas with us we finally got him to tell us his story, his parents death, his life with his abusive relatives, even his time on the streets. We finally convinced Harry to stay with us to, his only condition being that the state could not find out he was living here.

Harry's life taught me a thing or two about mine, I learned to appreciate my family more and to not judge people before getting to know them, but the best thing about meeting Harry was that I gained the greatest person to ever enter my life. I guess I have a teacher to thank.


End file.
